Reflecting on Conference and a Sunday ahead…

I write my sermons in funny places. This one was started on the 36 bus from Ripon to Leeds yesterday on my way to the opening of the representative session of the Methodist Conference and it was finished on the bus back!

I want to think about three c s. Come, call and commitment.

First, come. God is into inviting us to come and experience his love and his grace – every day. There is always more of his nature to discover. Psalm 130 is one of the Songs of Ascent. These were sung by Jewish pilgrims as they travelled up to Jerusalem for the great feasts. Underpinning these psalms are expressions of the oppression of the people during their exile in Babylon, their yearning for a return to their homeland, and for the future peace and prosperity for their nation. Psalm 130 is real, and it is honest, for it permits the people to call out to God from the depths of human suffering, all the while hoping for, expecting, indeed insisting on, God's hearing. There is confidence in the prayer that God will hear and respond to every cry of pain, because that is God's promise. The focus of the psalm, therefore, is waiting with hope. This is a psalm of trust, echoing Isaiah's words: "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint" – and of course Jesus builds on this: come unto me all ye that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.”

We are invited to come on a journey of discovery. The trouble is we don’t really want to go anywhere because it is comfortable here. Or there’s too much hassle to start anything. I got on the bus at lunchtime yesterday. We sat on it for 20 minutes listening to the driver try in vain to get the bus to start. It wouldn’t start. It had broken down. We were going nowhere.

We all had to get on the bus that was meant to leave half an hour after us so it had double the number of passengers on it.

I sat in the front of the bus upstairs, and I watched all the angry faces of people waiting at every bus stop between Killinghall and Harrogate as the bus didn’t stop at any of them as it was already dangerously full. Then when I arrived in Leeds, I got my usual I’m in Leeds panic because I don’t do cities. Where on earth was the Royal Armouries Museum? At least I wasn’t driving. When I visit at Jimmys or the LGI I always get in the wrong lane! It’s safer to stay at home.

And we can be like that with Jesus. But if we won’t come then we miss his urging of us to experience life and hope and joy and blessings. Don’t we? I love what he says when he’s asked can anything good come out of Nazareth? His reply is “come and see.” Come. Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?

Then call… let’s think briefly about Abram. Abram left everything he knew because of a call. His God came to him at the age of 75 and said “leave your country and your kindred and your father’s house, and go to a land that I will show you.” And we are told Abram went as the Lord told him. No hesitation or discussion not even with Sarai his wife. Well maybe some! Have you ever been so sure you had to do something you just did it? Or have there been times we’ve had to do something but we’ve had to wrestle with it because we didn’t know how it might be. I love how the King James Version of the Bible translates the letter to the Hebrews:

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

We are called to look for that city. We are called to make a difference. God knows the destination. His sat nav unlike mine on my phone yesterday won’t lead to a dead end. Call. This afternoon some of us will be at Sarah Caddell’s ordination in Harrogate. Part of what she will be told will be three important words: Remember your call. Last Thursday was the 25th anniversary of my ordination at the Southport Methodist Conference in 1999.

25 years and 7 Circuits, when it’s tough and it can be I need to remember my call. But you don’t need a bit of plastic round your neck to be called. We are all called as Christians to be the best we can be to build that city here. In the week of a General Election I dare to suggest that most – not all – of the candidates standing for Parliament see serving as a call, because they want to make a difference. We should pray for all of them this week. Here’s John Wesley on October 6, 1774:

“I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them tovote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and to take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”

Wesley was then age 71, a venerated figure at the height of his celebrity.  His Methodist renewal movement had touched and reformed much of British society, especially among the poor who had been less engaged with the church. He strongly affirmed loyalty to his monarch and belief in the British Constitution as the world’s best. I think this week after seeing that debate in America he might be right!

Call. We sang at Conference yesterday these words: We will walk with God, my brothers; we will walk with God. We will walk with God, my sisters; We will walk with God. We will go rejoicing till the kingdom has come. We will go rejoicing till the kingdom has come.

Then finally commitment. Commitment to be the Church. The new President of the Conference Helen Cameron is going to be a bit radical this year. She suggested the Methodist  Church might be dead if we wait for people to come to us. We need to go to where need is and where good news can transform. Jesus was committed to the world. The Gospel for today  begins with a vivid portrayal of the real world in which Jesus, God incarnate, is placed.

This is a world of need, of clamour and distress. And the cries of this needy world are epitomised by the pain and devastation of the leader of the Synagogue. Then an ‘ordinary' woman who clamours for understanding. Both honest, both distressed, both at the end of their tether, both seeing Jesus as the "sufferer's last hope", as William Barclay describes it. Here, in these two people, you have the whole of humanity crying out in their needs.

Through all of this, you have the reality of despair and hope, both of them seen as real and honest parts of the human condition. And Jesus meets them where they are.

I noticed a post on Facebook yesterday after the history morning in the village of a poster advertising the opening of the new Connexion chapel in May 1861. There was a talk after the service on the pilgrim fathers! We are still here in a different form having joined other local churches having let go of our building and now we need to work out together how we meet together in the village. The Church is different from what it was in 1861 and even 1999 when I was ordained. But Jesus still invites us to come, he still calls us, and he invites us to be committed to be his people wherever that leads. So come, call and commitment.

Let me end with a prayer the President ended her sermon with yesterday to help us move on:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. That prayer is for God’s Church and the few of us here. May God bless us and inspire us.

25 years - and not swallowing my own spittle!

I’ve been trying to reflect quietly today on this my 25th anniversary of ordination. About this time, on 27 June 1999 I was enjoying a post ordination bag of chips by the carousel on Southport prom. We’d had a mighty service at Leyland Road church where the preacher was Edmund Marshall. He sent all the ordinands that year a Christmas card every year until he passed away. That was kind. I don’t remember much about the service apart from the weight of the hands on my head at the point of ordination and the acclamation we might be worthy of the call upon us. 25 years later I still don’t feel worthy! 

I’ve travelled through seven Circuits since 1997 and I hope I’ve helped some people discover God and I hope I’ve helped some churches grow in confidence. I’ve only had to oversee two churches who had to cease to meet and they had buildings that were too much for them. One turned into a house group which is still meeting today and the other has had all its members settle into neighbouring churches and meeting occasionally in their village in the parish church or village hall. 

I’m grateful to my friend Mandy who reminded me of a quote from a fabulous book that has been really important to me. I even got on a plane and flew from Gatwick to Edinburgh to hear the author speak and sign my copy of her book this quote comes from:

"If my own experience can be trusted, then God does not call us once but many times. There are calls to faith and calls to ordination, but in between there are calls to particular communities and calls to particular tasks within them--calls into and out of relationships as well as calls to seek God wherever God may be found."

 ~Barbara Brown Taylor, from The Preaching Life

I went to Evensong in the cathedral tonight to mark this special anniversary. The readings were quite miserable but they speak of holding on when it’s tough, and I’ve had a lot of holding on when it’s been mad and sometimes really unpleasant. Here’s part of Psalm 94:

17 Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. 18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. 19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. 20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

Then we had Job chapter 7, brilliant in the King James Version. He wants God to leave him alone! 

12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest watch over me? 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaints; 14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: 15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. 16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity. 17 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? 18 And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment? 19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

Have I had times in the last 25 years I’ve wanted God to leave me alone till I swallow down my spittle? Maybe! There have been some tough places I’ve been asked to go to and they’ve needed energy and I’ve had some railing prayers at God in them! But I’m still here. I wonder what sort of Methodist Church there will be when I mark 50 years in 2049! 

In Evensong when you share the creed it’s customary to face the high altar. Tonight I noticed the twelve apostles with Jesus in the middle of them in the stained glass. They were a motley crew, they made mistakes and yet Jesus believed in them. So I will keep going and keep trying to be as excited about the call to ordained ministry as I was in 1999. 

Ministry actually 25 years on is different but it in this climate can be exciting. I’m doing far more ecumenically and with other partners and I’m known outside the churches as I walk around. It feels like the gap between church and community is lessening. The challenge is I think that people want to talk God, they are just not attracted to churches anymore and how on earth do you appeal to anyone under 60 to come to church now? I’m going to where people are but this isn’t growing the institution. 

In a scrapbook put together for my ordination full of letters and cards sent to me mostly from the fabulous what was then the Ashton Circuit, I have these words: 

We are not ordaining you to ministry; that happened at your baptism.

We are not ordaining you to be a caring person; you are already called to that.

We are not ordaining you to serve the Church in committees, activities, organisation; that is already implied in your membership.

We are not ordaining you to become involved in social issues, ecology, race, politics, revolution, for that is laid upon every Christian.

We are ordaining you to something smaller and less spectacular: to read and interpret those sacred stories of our community, so that they speak a word to people today; to remember and practice those rituals and rites of meaning that in their poetry address human beings at the level where change operates; to foster in community through word and sacrament that encounter with truth which will set men and women free to minister as the body of Christ.

We are ordaining you to the ministry of the word and sacraments and pastoral care. God grant you grace not to betray but uphold it, not to deny but affirm it, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

On Sunday I will be at my colleague Sarah’s ordination in Harrogate. It will be a chance to thank God for the last 25 years and to place everything in his hands because I know changes will be coming. For the beloved Church to be here in 2049 we have to be brave and we have to trust. For me ordination was not the end but the beginning and while it’s been tough I don’t regret God badgering me and I’m happy to see in my final years and in supernumerary land what God might be up to! 

Remember John Wesley after ordaining ministers in America which caused our split from the C of E, he sent out his new clergy to spark something new, something he could not predict. If we knew the future, well wouldn’t that be boring?! 

Bring on the next 25 years! The 1999 Conference adopted a really exciting report on the nature of Church: “Called to Love and Praise.” Maybe we need to read it because I think if we are to flourish we have to rediscover our purpose. Don’t we?  Discuss! 

My beloved minister in my teenage years Geoff Hawkridge wrote me a letter after being at my accreditation as a local preacher in 1990. He urged me to consider candidating and he called ordained ministry the greatest calling in the world. I faffed about for three years. I needed my Chair of District, Garth Rogers to waft his cigarette at me and tell me in no uncertain terms to get on with it! And 25 years later here I stand, I can do no other. To quote Luther!

A fourth reflection on Genesis: Joseph

The late Bruce Forsyth used to say to every couple on Strictly Come Dancing “you’re my favourite!” People say to me “what’s your favourite church?” Of course, I used to say Bishop Monkton and then they took you off me! It’s okay to have favourite food and favourite places but to have favourite people or favourite children is dangerous. 

Jacob lavished all his love and attention on Joseph. And his brothers get more and more fed up. If you are always second best or overlooked in the end you are going to react. It’s rather like the explosion the older son had when the prodigal son came home and got a party while he did all the work. Joseph was clearly treated very differently from his older brothers. Jacob even gifted him with a lavish coat, symbolising that favouritism. This would have been enough for his brothers to resent him, but we are also told that “He brought bad reports to his father about what his brothers were doing.” Turns out Joseph was a bit of a tattletale!

All this seems to come to a head when Joseph began to have extraordinary dreams. He saw his brothers, symbolised first by sheaths of wheat and then by stars, bowing down before him. For his brothers, this was the last straw. So, one day when Joseph is sent by his father to check up on his brothers, the brothers decide to kill Joseph and they throw him into a dry well where they intend to leave him to die. But while they are eating lunch a group of Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt just happen to come by and the brothers decide to avoid the messiness of murder by selling Joseph into slavery instead. And that is how Joseph, son of Jacob, ended up in Egypt.

Joseph was sold to Potiphar, an influential commander in the king’s forces. As a slave, Joseph quickly rises through the ranks and becomes the manager of Potiphar’s estate. But Potiphar’s wife takes a fancy to Joseph and when Joseph refuses her advances, she accuses him of rape. Joseph is thrown in jail and again he raises quickly to a position of authority. While there he encounters two other prisoners who have experienced strange dreams. Joseph interprets those dreams which both come true. 

Sometime later, when Pharaoh himself has strange dreams, one of the two former prisoners remembers how Joseph interpreted his dream, and Joseph is brought before Pharaoh.

Then Joseph’s situation changes when he is thrown into prison. It is actually rather astonishing that Joseph was imprisoned rather than being executed which would have been the normal sentence for having physical relations with his master’s wife regardless of whether it was consensual or not. In fact, prison sentences, in general, were very rare. Convictions that did not carry a death sentence usually resulted in either a fine, public flogging, or possibly even the loss of a limb. The fact that Joseph was sentenced to prison may indicate that Potiphar did not completely believe his wife’s accusations. Regardless, Joseph is thrown in jail where he once again raises to a position of authority.

Regardless, his time in prison, although perhaps not as terrible as we might think, would still have been very difficult. Prison sentences did not come with a specific term and would only end when the prisoners were freed by the person who put him there or when he was executed. This is what happened to the cupbearer and the baker, whose dreams Joseph had correctly interpreted, one of whom was executed and one of who what set free.

We are told that it was two full years after this incident before the cupbearer finally remembered Joseph and told the Pharaoh about him. Joseph is taken from prison, cleaned up, and presented to the Pharaoh. Joseph correctly interprets the Pharaoh’s dreams and once again rose to a position of power, this time second only to the Pharaoh himself.

Now we know the rest of the story. Joseph goes on to save all of Egypt from a devastation famine and eventually brings his family to join him in Egypt, saving all their lives as well.

We are also told that later on, Joseph himself tells his brothers that they are not responsible for sending him into slavery but rather that they were simply fulfilling their part in God’s plan. According to this understanding, it was God and not the brothers who wanted Joseph to become a slave. 

It was God, not Potiphar’s wife who decided that Joseph should end up in prison where he could encounter the cupbearer and the baker. And it was God, whose eventual plan in all of this was that the Israelite people should end up as slaves in Egypt. We will come back to that later.

Imagine Joseph in Egypt in a position of authority reflecting on his life. Where has God been in his journey? The whole of Genesis is an account of God’s relationship with his people, most of who in Genesis are flawed and some right pains. When we look back at our experiences in life, and in the church, we see how God has blessed us with clear revelation and other times we’ve had to work out what God is up to as it all feels like hard work or it’s not going as well as we hoped. How has God blessed your church since I left you last year? The last time I was here we were celebrating the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with a Songs of Praise. When we look back at our journey have we known God’s love in Jesus especially when it’s been tough?

This week we pray for Sarah as she spends time on retreat before ordination next Sunday. She will be reflecting how God has led us to the point she finds herself being led to be a presbyter in the Methodist Church. This week there is another anniversary. This coming Thursday, 27 June, will be the twenty fifth anniversary of my ordination. I was received into full Connexion at the Floral Hall in Southport and ordained later on that day at Leyland Road Methodist Church.

Where have twenty five years gone? What has changed in the church in a quarter of a century? A lot! We are a smaller and predominantly older group but we still work hard in our local churches to preach the Gospel and share God’s love in Christ week by week by week. This week I’m thinking about all the churches I’ve served and am serving. In twenty-seven years I’ve been the minister of thirty-two churches in six Circuits, three of them as Superintendent. I’ve held three District roles helping probationers, rural churches and ecumenical partnerships plus also sitting on various committees, and for several years I had a Connexional role supporting ministers wanting to or needing to do other than Circuit ministry. And I still have a day off a week and always have had!

I will pause somewhere on Thursday and thank God for his call on me which is still a surprise every day because even after all this time I still think others can do this far better than me…

When Joseph was sold into slavery he had a choice of how he would react. He could choose to focus on the hurt and betrayal he had suffered and do nothing. In that case, he would have made a very poor slave and would likely have spent the rest of his life being miserable. Instead, he simply did the best he could in a very difficult situation trusting that the God he worshipped would be there to help guide and protect him.

When he was accused by Potiphar’s wife he could have become angry and resentful, protesting his innocence and refusing to cooperate with his jailers. When asked to interpret dreams for other he could have refused. After all, wasn’t it his dreams that had got him into trouble with his brothers in the first place?

Instead, Joseph chose to do the best he could in very difficult circumstances. He chose to find opportunities to help others even when those others were his owners, his jailers, or his fellow prisoners. Despite everything, Joseph never stopped believing that the God he worshiped would somehow bring about some good from what was happening.

Joseph is a powerful example of faithfulness and trust. Joseph continued to do the very best he could no matter what the situation. Regardless of how difficult, how depressing, how hateful, how unjust, or how hopeless a situation appeared, Joseph refused to give in. I’m sure it wasn’t easy and I’m sure there were times he felt like giving up. So many horrible things happened to him, yet somehow Joseph held on to his hope, his dignity, and his faith.

I don’t know if I would have managed as well in those circumstances. I don’t know if I could have avoided giving in to hopelessness and despair in the face of the pain and betrayal that Joseph endured. But I do believe, that in my own life I am challenged to hold on to my own hope, dignity, and faith in whatever situations may come my way. I know there are times I don’t do it very well, but in those times when I am able to hold tightly to my faith, it is much easier to hold on to hope and to act with faith, dignity, and grace.

Corrie Ten Boom spent a number of years in a Nazi prison camp during the Second World War.

The barracks where the prisoners were held were dirty and crowded and the guards absolutely refused to come in. The wooden bunk beds were covered with straw rather than mattresses it was scratchy and itchy and full of fleas. 

But because the guards refused to enter, Corrie Ten Boom was able to start holding a time of prayer and Bible Study each evening with some of her fellow inmates.

Eventually, she learned that the reason the guards refused to enter the barracks was that they were afraid of picking up fleas and taking them home to their families. That night when the group met for prayer, she offered a simple 5-word prayer … “Thank you, God, for fleas!”

Sometimes what seems like a curse can turn into a blessing! Maybe that’s the lesson of Joseph for us today. We hold on to the providence of God.

I’ll be at the opening of the representative session of the Methodist Conference on Saturday afternoon. Conference begins with the same hymn every year and ends with the same hymn every year. You might not know either! It begins with “ and are we yet alive?” Which has the words “ What troubles have we seen, what mighty conflicts past, fightings without, and fears within, since we assembled last!“ And it ends with these words “Captain of Israel’s host and guide of all who seek the land above, beneath thy shadow we abide, the cloud of thy protecting love, our strength, Thy grace; our rule Thy word; Our end, the glory of the Lord.”

Bishop Monkton friends, my prayer for you is this. I know you’ve been frustrated because your refurbishment is going so slowly as the finding windows don’t open very wide very open but a few are opening now, I know some of you haven’t had it easy recently, maybe you don’t know where you are heading but know this, God knows and invites a response in you like Joseph to just keep the faith. So happy Christmas because you know what the plan is like and do that – keep being you and keep the faith and God will sort it! You’ve already got some nice chairs J

I have struggled with how to sum up Joseph but I found this prayer on a United reformed church website that does the job well:

There are times when we all feel like our lives have been turned upside down. We struggle to understand why. There are times when life takes unexpected turns and all our carefully laid plans and dreams come to nothing. We struggle to know where to turn next. 

There are times when we feel betrayed and alone. We struggle to hold on to hope. Grant us patience to wait. Open our eyes to recognise Your leading in our lives—to listen for Your gentle whisper when we least expect it. 

And give us the courage to step out in faith, trusting in Your leading even when we cannot yet see the outcome. Amen.

A third reflection on Genesis: Jacob

Genesis 28: 10 – 22 

I wonder if you have had encounters with people that brighten up your day or bring back memories of past encounters with them if you meet again after several years apart. I’ve had two such encounters this week. Last Sunday we were at the Golden Wedding service in the cathedral. There was a man there I kept looking at because I was convinced I knew him but I couldn’t think from where. After the service all the couples who’d booked to go had their pictures on a screen. The name Nutter came on. The man was with his parents, Mr and Mrs Nutter. The name Paul Nutter came into my head. I went up to him. 

“Are you Paul Nutter?” I asked. “Yes,” he said clearly not having a clue who I was. I said having worked out who he was. “I did your wedding when I was in Rutland.” His wife Sophie then appeared. That was twenty years ago.

They were there last Sunday supporting Mum and Dad who live in Wakefield and had come to Ripon for this service. 

Then we were at the summer concert of Harrogate Choral Society who Lis sings with. Elizabeth Wearing was there. I’ve not seen her since 1988. Her husband Michael was the minister who started me on my preaching journey when he was Superintendent in Harpenden, where I grew up. 

At the heart of our faith as Christians is encounter. And what is powerful about the Jacob story is that God will encounter not very nice people and reach out to them. Jacob is not very nice, he’s a cheat basically. Yet God’s grace is greater than human failing. All of us, even if we are vile, deserve at least a divine hearing. Jacob, means “grasper,” because when the twins were coming out of the womb Esau came out first but Jacob’s little hand came out right after Esau and grabbed ahold of his heel, like, “Come on back in here; I want to be first”). But the name “Jacob” can also mean, “deceiver,” and those two meanings pretty well sum up Jacob’s life.

Jacob has two encounters with God. One involves a ladder and the other a wrestling match. We will come to that later. Jacob had of a stairway to heaven.

You may remember that the rock band Led Zeppelin had their own version of a stairway to heaven, this time one that could be bought by someone who thought that everything that glittered was, after all, gold.  There have been arguments about where the musical inspiration for the Led Zeppelin song came from, but it is clear that the idea of a stairway to heaven comes from this story of Jacob.

The idea of a stairway to heaven, though, does not begin with Jacob; it begins with the Babylonians and their ziggurats.  These temples were built to be high towers, built with different levels, built with a staircase connecting each level with the one above.  And so the dream arises from a built reality being transformed not only into a ladder upon which one may ascend, but one upon which descent is also accomplished – heaven comes to earth in Jacob’s dream.

And that is why in John’s gospel virtually the same words are used by Jesus to describe himself: ‘very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man’.

In John’s gospel Jesus is portrayed as the ladder, the way, between heaven and earth, between time and eternity, between God and humanity.

Jacob has his dream at Bethel.  It’s a significant place: it is mentioned more often in the Hebrew scriptures than anywhere except Jerusalem and Samaria.  Bethel was visited by Abraham, who built an altar there, and returned there after disgracing himself in Egypt.  Bethel was captured by Joshua after the Exodus, recaptured by the Canaanites, then taken again by the Israelite tribes.  The Ark of the Covenant was housed for a time at Bethel before being taken to Shiloh, and later to Jerusalem.  Bethel became the principal shrine of the northern Kingdom of Israel, a rival to Judah’s Jerusalem.

Bethel was an important place, a holy place – a place recognised as a place of God – but it had not always been so, at least not by everyone.  ‘Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’’  

Jacob goes to sleep quite unaware of where he is, quite unaware of the company he is keeping, quite unaware of where God is to be found.  And in that, we might think, even today, he is not unusual.  He is, probably, in the city of Luz – and it clearly has nothing remarkable about it.  It is just a place pretty much like any other place – but, on his journey, fleeing, he thinks, from the wrath of his brother whom he has robbed and cheated, it is a place which seems to offer a place to pause, a place to catch his breath, a place to rest his head.

It is not even much of a place for that – a rock for a pillow; a rock, allegedly, long and flat, stretched out across an open space, the kind of rock that could, in the morning light, in the enlightened tomorrow, be raised on its end, and stuck in the ground to become a pillar, a monument, a marker of the discovery that, all this time, all unknown, this was God’s place.

And all this was unknown to Jacob – but not unknown to others.  Luz, this city through which he was travelling, was already known to the Canaanites as Beth-el – the House of El, the chief Canaanite deity.  

And now, like other holy shrines in other places at other times, it becomes adopted, embraced, re-packaged; so now it is not the House of El, but the house of God.  

The name of ‘House of God’ is adopted and adapted from the Canaanites, but in the story Jacob gives it that other name as well – this is not only the house of God, this is also the gate of heaven.  And this name takes us back to Babylon – back to the ziggurats, back to their stairways to heaven, back to the more correct name for Babylon – Bab-ilani, which means ‘gate of the gods’.

Jacob, we find, has gone to sleep in a nondescript place, a place which means nothing; maybe he knows it means things to other people, but it certainly means nothing to him.  The traditions of others, the understandings of others, the places of others, do not, he thinks, ‘do it’ for him.  His spiritual life, if he even thinks he has one, is not fed from these springs.  It’s just a place to stop, a place to use, a place of passing convenience, but nothing of any importance – not to him.  But he awakens to a different world, a world where he has been touched by a presence he had not previously suspected.  It is a world where Jacob has to take seriously what has been special to others but has never before been special to him – and the traditions of Canaan and of Babylon are subtly brought in to the tradition of Israel in the person whose name Israel will later take.

The psalmist remember in Psalm 139 writes not of a God who is suddenly encountered in a special place, but of an omnipresent God, a God whose presence cannot be escaped anywhere, a God who is with us everywhere we go – from the womb to the tomb, from the highest place to the lowest.  This is a God who knows us everywhere we go, and knows us before we are anywhere, knows us whether or not we know God, is interested in us whether or not we are interested in God.

Jacob may not have intended to stop at Bethel, but he did, and what may have been simply a night under the sky became an encounter with the true and the living God!

What did God say at Bethel?

God revealed Himself to Jacob by using the name Yahweh and then, God affirmed the faith of Abraham and Isaac. That would be a real blessing to me, knowing the God of my father and grandfather and who knows how far back it goes would speak to me personally.

We need to remember that very few people have ever experienced the joy of fellowship with God Himself, but it’s possible, and available, for everyone if we ask Him for it!

Third, God also confirmed the promise He had made to Abraham and Isaac. Part of that promise was that their descendants would be “. . . like the dust of the earth,. . .” but, Abraham had only one genuine son, Isaac, and we only read of two sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob. God’s ways are not our ways, and His timing isn’t the same, necessarily, as ours, but He will absolutely make good on every promise He's given. 

Finally, the most important promise was that God affirmed He would always be with Jacob, and would bring him back to this land. Remember that Jacob left with the whole family in turmoil: Esau wanted to kill him, Rebekah wanted to protect him (one wonders how?), and Isaac sorely displeased when Jacob had deceived him. Now, Jacob was alone—we don’t read of anyone going with him on this “wife quest”—and he had no one to share his concerns with. No family, no servant, not even an animal: and yet, God promised He would always be with Jacob. When we, even now, walk with God, we are never alone!

What did Jacob do after he heard God speak?

When did Jacob become a believer? I don’t recall reading that “Jacob believed God”, as was said of Abraham. Was it here? Was it before? Was it later? Regardless, there was a time when Jacob came to what we could call “saving faith” and became a believer in the God of Abraham and Isaac. We can find at least some initial steps in the following items:

He stated clearly, first, that he didn’t know, or hadn’t realised, that God was there. 
The second display of Jacob’s faith was the multi-part vow which he made. We’ll not spend much time there, but Jacob is basically saying, “All right, God, if You keep Your promise, then You will be my God and I’ll give a tenth to You”. 

This is where the narrative stops. Jacob, meeting God at Bethel was a life-changing experience.

Have we met God? There is no need to find a literal “Bethel” or any other place that some may state is sacred, special, or anything else. If you have never met God before, you can do so any place, any time, when God speaks to you. The encounter whether it involves a ladder will be life changing.

20 years later, Jacob prepares to be reunited with Esau. In the hope that Esau will not attack him Jacob sends gifts ahead to placate Esau. Whilst waiting in the camp for the gifts to arrive with Esau, Jacob has another face-to-face encounter with God…

Genesis 32: 22 – 32 

Jacob and his wives and sons cross the Jabbock river into Esau’s territory. This is where our reading picks up. Jacob is so nervous he can’t sleep. He sends his family across the river, and he’s left alone.

Except, it turns out he’s not alone. Instead, a man or a demon or an angel or something is there and they wrestle all night. Jacob—exhausted, nervous—hangs on until dawn. As the light dawns, his opponent realizes Jacob won’t give up, and he strikes him putting his hip out of joint. But still, Jacob won’t let him go. And here’s the interesting part of this strange story. His opponent asks him, “What is your name?”

Jacob knows what his name means. He knows what he’s done to get to where he is. He knows he’s cheated his brother, and his uncle. 

He knows he’s spent his life taking what rightfully belongs to others. He knows what his name means.

And so does God, for it turns out that’s who Jacob has been wrestling. God knows how much Jacob deserves everything Esau seems about to give him. God knows who Jacob is, yet asks anyway, “What is your name?”

Jacob admits it. He answers, “Jacob.” It’s a confession. Knowing someone’s name symbolically gives you power over them, which is perhaps why the one who wrestles with him refuses to reveal his own name. Jacob makes himself vulnerable.

But instead of giving him the punishment he deserves, the Lord instead gives him a new name. Verse 28: “You shall know longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans and have prevailed.” Jacob gets a new start. He’s held on all night, desperate for some hope, wrestling in the dark, and he gets his blessing.

My question is if he had to wrestle all night for God to bless him. Was all this even necessary?

Because God had already promised to bless him. His mother had already heard the promise that great nations would come from her sons.

But perhaps for Jacob to accept God’s blessing, he needed to have wrestled. It’s not until he stops wrestling and makes himself vulnerable that he is blessed.

Perhaps it’s not Jacob hanging on all night in this wrestling match, but God who is hanging on, refusing to abandon Jacob. Perhaps what looks like cheating—dislocating Jacob’s hip—is God saying enough is enough: Quit fighting and let me bless you. I wonder.

The name the Lord gives Jacob is “Israel,” which means wrestles with God. And of course, he does go on to produce a great nation. The descendants of Israel’s 12 sons become the 12 tribes of Israel. And throughout the Bible, Israel’s name makes sense, because the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, continue to wrestle with God.

So what is the good news in this strange story?

Perhaps the good news is that a trickster, a deceiver , can be redeemed.

Perhaps the good news is that God is willing to hang in there all night wrestling with you, if that’s what you want to do.

Perhaps this is an illustration of the promise that God doesn’t give up on you, and if God wants to claim and rename you and give you new life, that’s what God’s going to do, (even if it takes wrestling all night until you see the light).

Perhaps the point of this story is that all of us have times when we stay up all night wrestling with God, and that’s ok.

Wrestling with God, questioning God, struggling with God, even not recognising God is part of faith. Faith means persisting in trusting God through the wrestling.

The late Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, wrote this in the Jewish Chronicle:

“The journey described in Genesis turns out to be unexpectedly complicated and fraught with setbacks. In a sense it continues till today. This is part of what makes Genesis so vivid. We can relate to its characters and their dilemmas. We are part of their world as they are of ours. No other literature has so contemporary a feel. This is where we came from. This is our journey.”

We need to see a ladder and we need to be prepared to wrestle a bit.